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Karen Emilson

Goodreads Author

Born

in Hamilton, ON, Canada

Website

http://www.karenemilson.com

Twitter

karenemilson

Genre

Historical Fiction, Fiction, Memoir

Member Since

December 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/karenemilson

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Karen Emilson is the author of the novels Also Known as Jaime Dorn, Be Still the Water and the bestselling biographies, Where Children Run, When Memories Remain, and co-author of My Every Breath. She is an award winning former newspaper reporter and freelance writer. Like her fictional character, Jaime Dorn, she grew up in southern Ontario and moved to Manitoba’s Interlake region, an area well-known for its rugged landscape and resilient people. Most of her books are based there and the fictional stories she tells are inspired by small-town life. Now she lives in Winnipeg, but in the summer she returns to Steep Rock—where the air is fresh, the water pristine, and the characters who live inside her come to life.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Karen Emilson When Lake Manitoba overflowed its banks in 2011, flooding out the farmland at Siglunes, I was inspired to finish a story I'd started 10 years earlier …moreWhen Lake Manitoba overflowed its banks in 2011, flooding out the farmland at Siglunes, I was inspired to finish a story I'd started 10 years earlier about the immigrants who carved out a living there. It took me five years to write "Be Still the Water" and it was released in early fall, 2016.(less)

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What are you currently working on?

Karen Emilson Not yet titled, this is what I'm working on now . . .

Street-smart Jennifer flees Toronto to avoid questioning by police and catches a Greyhound headed…moreNot yet titled, this is what I'm working on now . . .

Street-smart Jennifer flees Toronto to avoid questioning by police and catches a Greyhound headed west, with her only road map—a beat-up calendar from 1968—and a few treasured possessions hidden in her knapsack. Her goal is to find Salt Spring Island and fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an artist, but bleary-eyed and exhausted, she gets back on the wrong bus at the Winnipeg depot and two hours later, wakes up in the small town of Lundi, Manitoba.

It's January 1980. She's wearing high heels. And both her wallet and the bus are gone.

Now she's stuck, and the only people who can help her don't want her to leave—the eccentric funeral home owner, a retired cattle rancher, the town florist, and the young, bearded construction worker she calls "Scumbag" who sat next to her on the bus. His name is Magnus and he is the grandson of Bjorn Magnusson, a wealthy business owner in town.

Lying, thieving Jennifer soon finds herself caught up in small town life and unwittingly holds the key to a decades-old mystery, as she struggles to stay one step ahead of the RCMP officer who doesn't believe her lies. Can she let go of her haunting past and pursue her dream; or remain stuck forever in the town that just won't let her go?(less)

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Karen Emilson’s books

Average rating: 4.46 · 3,972 ratings · 336 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Where Children Run (Pischke Twins, #1) 4.43 avg rating — 2,391 ratings — published 1996 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Every Breath: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Hope by Anna Maynard (Goodreads Author), Karen Emilson (Goodreads Author) 4.50 avg rating — 724 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When Memories Remain (Pischke Twins, #2) 4.54 avg rating — 517 ratings — published 2001 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Be Still the Water 4.41 avg rating — 312 ratings — published 2016 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Also Known as Jaime Dorn: A Novel 4.68 avg rating — 28 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Just a Matter of Time: A Grassroots Look at Canada's Cattle Industry Struggling Through the Aftermath of Mad Cow Disease 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When Memories Remain by Karen Emilson (Goodreads Author), Matt Weisgerber (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Every Breath: A memoir of love, loss and hope by Anna Maynard (Goodreads Author), Karen Emilson (Goodreads Author), Virtual Voice (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Karen Emilson's Blog

Be Still the Water

Now available in stores! Currently on a book promotion tour across Manitoba so check my website's event page to see when I'll be in a location near you. Happy reading!

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Published on July 15, 2016 10:36 • Tags: historical-fiction

Series by Karen Emilson

Pischke Twins (2 books)
by

Karen Emilson (Goodreads Author)

4.45 avg rating — 2,908 ratings

Karen’s Recent Updates

Karen Emilson made a comment on Sarah Jensen’s review of When Memories Remain (Pischke Twins, #2) " Author note: I did NOT grow up in an abusive home. "
Sep 27, 2026 09:27AM · see review
Karen Emilson voted for By Any Other Name as Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction in the Final Round of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 28, 2024 08:57AM · like

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Quotes by Karen Emilson (?)

“Just because a person has money in his pocket it doesn’t mean he has kindness in his heart.”
― Karen Emilson, Where Children Run

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“David and Raymond discussed their childhoods and Raymond said that after the twins left the farm, Domko occasionally beat him as well. They had a few long talks and were able to settle their differences. had a few long talks and settled their differences. They discussed their childhoods and Raymond admitted that Domko had occasionally beaten him as well.”
― Karen Emilson, When Memories Remain

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